


long after you die

by kuro49



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Jason-Centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-18 23:15:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20321137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuro49/pseuds/kuro49
Summary: A person's worth is measured by the worth of what he values. —Marcus Aurelius





	long after you die

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SublimeDiscordance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SublimeDiscordance/gifts).

> inspired by keep you alive by brothers voodoo: i’ll keep you alive, keep you alive. they’ll be talking about you long after you die.
> 
> originally posted to [tumblr](https://setsailslash.tumblr.com/post/187065490726/tagged-by-sublimediscordance-rules-use-five) for jason's b-day like five days ago and a five minutes writing meme that i cheated so thoroughly lmao

Jason has to wonder if it is worth it. To have it amount to just this. 

All the suffering, every struggle, and each bit of visceral pain drawn like a fresh open wound. He sits up on the single bare mattress, still bleeding sluggishly from the stitches pulled during a fitful of what can be considered sleep when cobbled together and made whole in the dark.

His cellphone is lighting up one blank wall, casting an eerie blue spotlight on to one corner of the hollowed out room he calls a safehouse.

He groans, painfully and loudly at how bright it is as he fumbles with it. His fingerprint unlocks the screen and there are plenty of messages before a fourth request for a video call takes over his homescreen again.

It’s Dick, the _dick_.

He swipes _answer _if only because he’s already missed three other video call requests, and Jason really has no intention of finding out what Dick would do next when pushed to the edge (probably jump without any consideration for a line or a net to curb the fall).

There is a stalling moment while the call connects where Jason sees his own unruly curls standing up on one side from sleep and then Dick Grayson’s face fills the screen for about half a second before his voice explodes over the speakers.

He’s singing.

Jason blinks blearily as he registers that Dick is singing happy birthday to him. The sound echoing inside of his near-barren excuse for a safehouse. The experience made all the stranger when Tim is joining in, his face sharing the screen, his voice a bit quieter even if it comes out a bit rougher while Dick is beaming from where he has taken a step back to make room.

The phone then exchanges hand, the camera going shaky before Damian shows up, giving him a curt nod before handing it off back to Dick who is finally finishing the serenade.

They are all staring at him, and it leaves him feeling like he’s been striped back, the blood on his hands then the scars across his skin then all the Lazarus rage still running through his veins until all they can see of him is what remains of his tar-black soul.

But it is like they see none of that when Dick tells him on all of their behalf.

“Get home soon, okay, little wing? Alfie made cake with your name literally on it so no one gets a bite until you’re back.”

The camera going shaky again as Dick moves to show off the perfectly made cake with _Happy Birthday_ and then Jason's own name written in precise frosted cursive just beneath that. The number of unlit candles sitting in the cake gets Jason nodding, mutely, because what else can he do? His eyes dart to the top right corner of his cellphone screen to find his own birth date looking back at him.

He nods again, bringing his hand up, wincing past the pain of his stitches, this time to hide a smile that pulls even worse at both corners of his mouth.

It’s still a bit of a surreal thing to realize that yeah, sometimes, it’s really worth it all.


End file.
